03-13-2021, 02:03 PM
(03-12-2021, 12:52 PM)Guest Wrote: Yes Can anyone please give some pros cons of prelim surgery? What do programs think of reapplicants who went to do prelim surgery and reapplied to neurosurgery? Thanks
As someone who didn't match and did prelim surg and was very lucky to get a PGY2 spot in neurosurgery because a neurosurgery intern quit, I would still not recommend doing prelim surgery. Really the only upside is having an income and potentially being able to fill in an elusive PGY2 spot. You'll strictly be doing scut work so that you can alleviate call burden for the categorical GS residents with little to no operative experience, essentially no relevant clinical experience unless your program gives you time to rotate with neurosurgery. Plus you'll be miserable working 90-100hrs a week in a field you didn't want to do and GS has a higher attrition rate than neurosurgery so that speaks for itself.
Pre-residency fellowship or delaying graduation to do a research year of MSc or PhD with a productive neurosurgery attending is a much better and less fatiguing option if you unfortunately do not match.
